Kelly Clark Wins Snow Angels Superpipe Jam

April 06, 2009

So it didn’t go exactly as planned, but that isn’t to say it didn’t go off.

The Snow Angles Invitational was supposed to be a three day event with a day of pipe practice, a pipe jam competition and then a finale photo shoot. But….it dumped for two days and all that went out the window. No one was complaining though, as all the ladies got to shred pow all day and indulge in facials, yoga and a lot of pretty much royal treatments.

Then the storm broke and the girls woke up to blue skies and a perfectly cut pipe on Sunday. So they jammed the day away. Practice started at an easy-style 11ish and then the competition got underway sometime after Noon-thirty.

With more than a dozen of the worlds best women pipe riders in attendance the level of riding was something else. Kelly Clark was blasting off the first hit, carrying her frontside airs well-overhead. Gretchen took a few warm up one-hitters, hiked some, found her groove, got down to it and looked right at home on the Snowmass u-ditch. Ellery Hollingsworth’s came with her characteristically smooth style. In the end these three would finish first, second and third respectively.

And while these girls led the pack, the others were hot on their heels. Every one of the ladies in attendance had something gnarly to show the crowd. Linn Haug was throwing super-stylish 5’s, so was Kaitlyn Farrington, Molly Aguirre was nearly nailing back nines and Meg Pugh was shredding the lip of the pipe like it was pool coping on a skate bowl.

But it was the youngest girl out there that was really turning heads. 14-year old Colorado loc Maddy Schaffrick was showing up ladies almost twice her age. Her switch back 7 to back 9 earned her the “Most Progressive Rider” award, and no doubt won her a lot of respect from her elders.

So, while the Snow Angels 2nd annual event might not have unfolded exactly as planned, it still proved to be one of the most progressive women’s competitions to date. And if the ear-to-ear grins the girls wore all day were any indication, it was also an event the ladies genuinely enjoyed.